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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Breakfast Danger: Skull and crossbones

Bacon and eggs in a frying pan in the shapes of a skull and crossbones

Bacon Shortage 'Aporkalypse'

America -- nay, the
entire world -- went hog wild this week when a report out of England predicted
a "global bacon shortage" in 2013.

Swinophiles cleared
hoarding space in their freezers and eating-contest organizers canceled
bacon-based events. But then a few contrarian journalists, most notably Slate's
Matthew Yglesias, took to the Internet to reassure everyone that a bacon
shortage was no more likely than pigs flying.

The truth is
somewhere in between. Describing the bacon market today as "the
aporkalypse" may be hyperbolic. But the pork industry is under serious
stress -- so much so that there is actually a remote chance there could really
be a bacon shortage in 2013, just as the United Kingdom's National Pig
Association predicted.

The main issue
recently has been the price of feed, which soared to an all-time-high in
August, largely because of a major drought throughout the Midwest. That's
driven the cost of the total feed required to raise a pig to the standard
market size of 200 pounds as high as $175. Meanwhile, the commodity price of a
hog carcass has been fluctuating between $120 and $150 per 200-pounder. That's
led some hog farmers to sell their livestock at a loss of up to $50 a head. -Huffington Post